Lazio fined 50,000 euros for anti-Semitic Anne Frank stickers

The Italian Football Association's federal tribunal has fined the Lazio football team 50,000 euros ($62,090), saying it was "objectively" responsible for the distribution by fans of anti-Semitic stickers showing Holocaust victim Anne Frank wearing the jersey of city rivals AS Roma.

The stickers were found in their stadium, Rome's Olympic Stadium, which they share with AS Roma, during a match against Cagliari in October.

The sticker showing Anne Frank in an AS Roma kit

Following the incident, Italian soccer authorities ordered stadiums to hold a minute of silence at their next matches while a passage from Anne Frank's diary is read out.

Investigations showed that 13 Lazio supporters were found guilty of applying the stickers. The 13 have been banned from going to sports events. Anne Frank was born in Germany but her family fled to the Netherlands to escape the Nazi takeover. They lived in hidden rooms in Amsterdam before they were discovered by German occupiers and deported to concentration camps.

(Photo: AP)

She died in the Bergen-Belsen camp aged 15 and her diary recounting the family's time in hiding became a centerpiece of Holocaust literature.

Lazio supporters are infamous for calling out racist and anti-Semitic chants during games, and have been previously charged in court for doing so.

The tribunal said Lazio did everything in its power to prevent discriminatory material being introduced in the stadium, noting the stickers were too small to be detected.

Lazio supporters (Photo: Getty Images)

However, Lazio was still held "objectively" responsible for the incident as the supporters' representative, the Italian FA said on Thursday. The tribunal did, however, opt out of asking Lazio to play two matches behind closed doors as the Italian FA prosecutor requested, as this would also punish fans who did not play a part in what happened.

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New exhibit highlights power of photos in Holocaust

Staring at grainy video footage of Jewish children marching to their freedom though the barbed-wire fences of the Auschwitz death camp, 79-year-old Vera Kriegel Grossman excitedly points a finger at the screen upon identifying a dark-haired girl in a dirty striped uniform as her 6-year-old self. "I can't believe that happened to me," she said Wednesday. "I wasn't a child there. I was all grown up ... it was like I was 100 years old." Archival footage shot by Auschwitz's Soviet liberators is part of the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial's latest exhibition, ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Saturday, exploring the power of photography during World War II. The 1,500 photographs and 13 films displayed come from various perspectives, victims and perpetrators alike, and look to offer today's media-saturated visitors a new angle of looking at the horrors of the Holocaust.

Mendel Grossman working on in the Lodz Ghetto during World War II (Photo: EPA)

Photography, perhaps more than anything else, has come to shape our memory of the Holocaust. The "Flashes of Memory" exhibit also offers a glimpse behind the lens—showing the actual cameras used, the photographers who took the pictures and their various motivations.

"The exhibit is aimed at the brain, not the heart," said Daniel Uziel, its historical adviser. "We are asking the visitor to look beyond the image and examine the wider historical perspective." It includes Nazi-produced material that was part of their vast propaganda machine aimed at both enhancing their powerful image—such as Leni Riefenstahl's famous films—and portraying the Jew as a decrepit, disease-infested yet sinister creature that was worthy of extermination. Also featured are the vivid photographs of American troops who freed the camps—depicting emaciated survivors, ash-filed crematoria, piles of corpses and the German civilians they forced to bury them so they couldn't plead ignorance later. Besides serving as vital future evidence to try Nazi criminals, these were also aimed at re-educating the postwar German population and for domestic American consumption to legitimize the huge cost and sacrifice of joining the war. Perhaps most insightful are the everyday photos taken by the Jewish victims themselves in various ghettos, some in the service of the Nazis and some in stealth in a desperate attempt to document the atrocities against them to serve as future proof. For example, Zvi Kadushin, an underground photographer in the Kovno ghetto, did so at great personal risk and produced essential documentation as a result.

'Flashes of Memory' exhibition of the photos and videos. (Photo: AP)

"They used those images in order to present to the Germans their usefulness, their effectiveness," said Uziel. "On the other hand, the Jews also seek, without permission, to document the crimes done by the Germans." Six million Jews were killed by German Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust, wiping out a third of world Jewry. Israel's main Holocaust memorial day is in the spring—marking the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising—while the United Nations designated Jan. 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorating the date of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp in 1945. That's the day Grossman considers her second birthday, since she was delivered from the horrors of the camp to freedom.

Jewish children in the Lodz Ghetto during World War II (Photo: EPA)

"God opened the skies and sent us angels and rescued us," she recalled, upon seeing the Soviet troops who later filmed her and the number tattooed on her arm. "I am happy it was documented." Grossman's father was gassed and incinerated in the camp's crematorium and she and her twin sister Olga were subjected to the ruthless experiments of the infamous Nazi doctor Josef Mengele. She said her resistance to him is what kept her alive. "I told myself what he would tell me to do I would do the opposite because he had no right to do these things to me," she said. "He took away my body because he could do that but he couldn't take away my mind." Far less eager to discuss their experiences were identical twins Lia Huber and Judith Barnea, both 80. Seeing the images, and themselves in them, brought back memories both had spent decades suppressing.

Mendel Grossman a photographer who documented life in the Lodz Ghetto (Photo: EPA)

"It is buried inside our hearts and we don't talk about it," said Huber. "If you want to survive and continue life, you must continue and live with what you got and carry on." Photos from various chapters of the Nazi persecution of Jews were scattered across desks to depict the chaos in which they were taken. But it was the displaying of Nazi propaganda in the museum in particular that posed a difficult dilemma for Yad Vashem. Vivian Uria, the exhibit's curator, said they tried to balance this with artifacts and testimony of survivors and victims who told their point of view. Ultimately, though, she said the visuals were essential and it was up to the viewer to look back at that dark era with a critical eye toward all those who documented it. "The camera and its manipulative power have tremendous power and far-reaching influence," she said. "Although photography pretends to reflect reality as it is, it is in fact an interpretation of it."

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Austria's Jews boycott Holocaust commemoration over rise of far right

Austria's main Jewish body (IKG) will boycott a parliamentary Holocaust commemoration event because of the rise of the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) which entered government last month, the IKG's chief said on Thursday.

The Freedom Party, junior coalition partner to Sebastian Kurz's conservatives, was founded by former Nazis and has repeatedly excluded members in Nazi scandals. It says it has left its Nazi past behind.

Kurz has vowed to focus on fighting anti-Semitism after Israel said it would not have direct contact with Freedom Party officials although the Foreign, Interior and Defense Ministers all entered cabinet on the far right ticket.

Austria's main Jewish body said it will boycott a Holocaust memorial ceremony at the country's parliament due to the participation of the far-right FPO party (Photo: AFP)

  

"We do not want anything to do with such people and we do not want to commemorate the people who died in the Shoah (the Hebrew term for the Holocaust—ed) with such people," IKG chief Oskar Deutsch said on ORF radio. "One should think about what kind of people are sitting in a government and what kind of people get voted into a parliament." The Freedom Party gained third place with 26 percent of votes in parliamentary elections in October.

New Chancellor Kurz (R) formed a coalition with Strache's far-right FPO party (Photo: Getty Images)

The conservative president of parliament, Wolfgang Sobotka, said he could understand the IKG's behavior but also felt it was "a pity that some people are not coming." Earlier this month, Interior Minister Herbert Kickl of the FPO said asylum seekers should be "concentrated" in special centers to help the authorities process their applications swiftly. For many observers, Kickl's wording evoked Nazi-era concentration camps, where Nazis held and killed millions of Jews, political dissenters, disabled people, Roma and Sinti during World War Two. This week, the FPO's top candidate in elections in the province of Lower Austria, Udo Landbauer, suspended his membership in a student fraternity he helped lead when it emerged the group distributed song books with Nazi content. Landbauer said the judiciary had to deal with the case, but added the book in question had been produced when he was 11 years old, meaning he could not be held responsible for it. "If you read Hitler's Mein Kampf, for example, you also cannot say you did not know about it," Deutsch said of Landbauer, calling for his resignation. Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen told ORF radio he was stunned about the Nazi songs in the publication and that all members of the fraternity must have known about them.

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Israel’s Bangladeshi ‘ambassador’ converting to Judaism

Shadman Zaman, a 25-year-old Muslim physician from Bangladesh, dreams of becoming Jewish and has even begun a conversion process. As a Zionist and pro-Israel activist, he became the first citizen from his country to openly enter Israel with a Bangladeshi passport, which explicitly states that it is valid for all the countries in the world except Israel.

He will likely never set foot in Bangladesh again, although his parents have been left behind. If he returns, he risks being sent to prison.

Dr. Shadman Zaman prays at the Western Wall

“I see myself as an ambassador of Israel and of the Jewish people and as someone who fights for Israel and against anti-Semitism,” he says.

“I come from one of the most anti-Semitic countries in the world,” he tells Ynet. “The citizens of Bangladesh are forbidden to own a Torah scroll, and whoever visits Israel—like me—is likely to be charged with treason and thrown into prison for many years. I have friends who are sitting in jail simply because they wanted to visit Israel. But I’m undeterred, because I define myself as a Zionist.”

He arrived in Israel recently as a guest of the World Zionist Organization (WZO) and visited the President’s Residence. “I was raised as a Zionist,” he says. “In Bangladesh I was taught to hate Israel, but my grandfather was the first Bangladeshi Zionist. He always taught me to respect people and told me to read about Judaism and about the Jewish people.”

Zaman got his Zionist education from smuggled books. “In 2016, I moved to Britain. A month before he died, my grandfather asked me to visit Israel,” he says. “I went to the Israeli embassy and asked for a visa, and I got it. It was the first time ever that a Bangladeshi citizen had visited Israel with his country’s national passport. I know people who have entered Israel, but they have dual citizenships.”

With his parents. Allowed to meet twice a year

His love for Israel subsequently generated a love for Judaism. “I was always intrigued by the Jewish people’s story,” he says. “I believe in the Torah. I’m amazed by the fact that the Jewish people survived all the oppressions they went through, so I decided to become part of them and convert. “There isn’t a single Jew in Bangladesh,” he adds. “Had there been Jews there, I would have already been Jewish today. The first time I saw Jews and a synagogue was in Britain. I want to make aliyah one day, but in the meantime I’m doing PR for Israel and fighting the anti-Semitism thriving  in Britain, unfortunately.” Dr. Zaman, who specializes in trauma at a hospital in Britain, participated recently in a conference in London organized by WZO’s Department for Countering Anti-Semitism. He even stars in a video created by the pro-Israel StandWithUS organization, which has received some 150,000 views.

With his grandfather. 'He was the first Bangladeshi Zionist. He always taught me to respect people and told me to read about Judaism and the Jewish people'

He first visited Israel last February and made his second visit in November as a guest of the WZO, as part of a delegation of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain. “This is our goal,” said WZO Vice Chairman Yaakov Hagoel. “To reveal anti-Semitic incidents and to provide Jewish communities, and any other community in fact, with practical tools to deal with this phenomenon, as well as encourage active involvement in the entire world.”

Zaman’s parents still live in Bangladesh and are permitted to meet him only twice a year in Britain, he says. His dream is for his homeland to establish diplomatic ties with Israel one day, so that he may be able to go back there for a visit. “Bangladesh can benefit from relations with Israel, just like India,” he says.

Dr. Zaman at work

Meanwhile, he embarks on PR missions in Britain. Every time someone tells him Israel is an apartheid state that kills Palestinian children, he replies like a seasoned Israeli ambassador: “I visited Tel Aviv University and saw Jewish and Muslim students studying together. I also saw Muslim lawmakers at the Knesset and Muslim judges in the Supreme Court. “This is not what an apartheid state looks like. Before accusing Israel of killing Palestinian children, you should check the facts and go to Gaza. See how Hamas uses children as human shields and harms their education by failing to use foreign aid funds to build schools, building terror tunnels instead.”

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Portion of VP Pence's speech penned by former UK chief rabbi

Lord Dr. Jonathan Sacks, former chief rabbi of Britain, wrote significant portions of US Vice President Mike Pence's speech in the Knesset, especially its biblical imagery, Rabbi Sacks's office confirmed to Ynet Wednesday. Pence gave the speech Monday during his visit to Israel.

  While Pence's speech in Israel's parliament may be better remembered for the fracas that preceded it, it will also be known for its constitutive statements recognizing the linkage between the people of Israel and the land of Israel.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks helped write portions of VP Pence's speech in the Knesset (Photo: Matty Stern/US Embassy Tel Aviv)

It has now become known those parts of the speech were penned by Sacks, the former chief rabbi of the United Kingdom, considered a religious philosopher whose books were translated to numerous languages, including Hebrew.

"Vice President Pence initiated contact with Rabbi Sacks, since he was interested in strengthening the spiritual and biblical aspects of his speech," a source close to the member of the British House of Lords said, adding Pence asked to consult the rabbi on the ties between Jews and their country.

Following Pence's overtures, a private 90-minute meeting between the vice president and the rabbi was held this past November, purportedly in preparation for the former's impending visit to Israel, which was postponed several times.

The talk touched on parts of Pence's planned speech, specifically the portions pertaining to Jews' ties to Israel and its biblical aspects, with which the vice president's final speech was resplendent. "In the story of the Jews, we've always seen the story of America," Pence said in his speech. "It is the story of an exodus, a journey from persecution to freedom, a story that shows the power of faith and the promise of hope."

Pence's speech included many biblical allusions (Photo: Amil Salman)

"The Jewish people held on to the promise (of coming back to Israel—ed), and they held onto it through the longest and darkest of nights," Pence added. "This April, we will mark the day when the Jewish people answered that ancient question—can a country be born in a day, can a nation be born in a moment?—as the State of Israel celebrates the 70th anniversary of its birth," the vice president said to a chorus of applause from the assembled crowd. At the conclusion of his speech, Pence recited the Shehecheyanu blessing, uttered by Jews to celebrate special occasions. Rabbi Sacks's office, however, did wish it to be known he was not involved in the portions of the speech relating to political matters. "As a religious leader and thinker whose stock-in-trade are things relating to faith and interreligious links, the rabbi is conscious of staying out of politics," his office said.

Pence concluded his visit to Israel by visiting the Western Wall (Photo: EPA)

"The rabbi considers it an enormous contribution to the Jewish people that a persona of the American vice president's magnitude contacted a religious-Jewish source for guidance on such matters," Sacks's office added. Pence inaugurated his two-day visit to Israel in the Knesset on Monday, where he gave the aforementioned speech. He concluded it the following day by visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem and then the Kotel.

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2017 Anti-Semitism Report shows hike in worldwide anti-Jewish incidents

The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs on Sunday released the 2017 Anti-Semitism Report, which indicated a substantial increase in racist incidents against Jews in Europe, especially in the western parts of the continent.

According to the report, which serves as a yearly status report on trends and incidents concerning hate crimes against Jews, the past year marked a record number of anti-Semitic incidents in Britain since 1984, when Community Security Trust (CST), a charity that aims to shield British Jews from anti-Semitism, began documenting anti-Semitic incidents in the kingdom.

Tombstones smashed in Jewish cemetery in Serbia (Photo courtesy of Chabad House in Serbia)

 2017 saw a 78 percent increase in incidents of physical violence against Jews in the UK and a 30 percent increase in all anti-Semitic incidents in the country. The report noted that there was an increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Germany, partly due to the rise of the extreme right. The refugee crisis in Germany led to the strengthening of right-wing nationalist parties, which brought with them an anti-Semitic discourse to the political system through their attempt to bolster national pride in the country's heritage and history by reducing the responsibility of the German people for the Holocaust. Many in the country's Muslim communities also exhibited blatant anti-Semitism, as was evident in demonstrations in the country after the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in which calls for the destruction of Israel were heard.

Anti-Jewish graffiti in Ukraine

Many alarming anti-Semitic incidents also took place in France last year. Despite government action to prevent hate crimes against Jews as part of their "Fight against racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia" and a decrease in the number of incidents, France faced serious incidents such as the murder of a Jewish young woman, Sarah Lucy Halimi. Apart from the murder that sparked a public outcry, several kosher restaurants were set on fire in arson attacks, and an appreciable number of violent incidents against Jews were reported. Though the country that, according to the ministry's report, saw the biggest hike in violent incidents against Jews was Ukraine, registering an increase of more than 50 percent in violent incidents against Jews.

Sarah Lucy Halimi, who was murdered in France

This is happening against the backdrop of the trend of renewed nationalism in Eastern Europe and attempts to whitewash and glorify the figures of nationalist leaders and movements of the past responsible for the murder and expulsion of Jews during World War II and the period before it. The country has reported dozens of desecrations of Jews monuments, tombs, museums and synagogues, mostly in the city of Odessa. In May, the PEW Research Center, a nonpartisan American think tank based in the US, conducted a study of 2,000 residents in each of Central and Eastern Europe's 18 countries. The study found that 20 percent of the respondents did not want Jews in their country and 30 percent did not want Jews as neighbors. In addition, 22 percent of Romania's citizens and 18 percent of Polish citizens were interested in denying the right of Jews to citizenship in their country.

Hate crimes against Jews in the US too

The report also presents likewise worrisome occurrences in the United States. According to the report, the alt-right, which rose to prominence in the march in Charlottesville in which demonstrators were heard chanting "Jews will not replace us," gained strength during President Donald Trump's fist year in office. There has also been an increase in anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli sentiments among radical leftist movements, especially on college campuses, which continued with anti-Israeli propaganda that caused Jewish students to feel insecure and afraid to express any pro-Israel or Zionist views.

The report noted that the increasing population of refugees and immigrants, who arrived in Europe in recent years, is becoming a significant risk factor for Jewish communities.

According to surveys conducted, more than 50 percent of the refugees in Western Europe, most of them Muslims, hold anti-Semitic views. Following Trump's declaration on Jerusalem, calls for "Death to Israel" were chanted and Israeli flags were burned in several European capitals for the first time in years. Extreme right-wing parties in Western Europe have also scored exceptional achievements in terms of public support. Campaigns by alt-right parties in France, Britain, and Germany expanded the proliferation of anti-Semitism into the center of political discourse, which was reflected in an increase in anti-Semitic rhetoric by government officials.

Jewish graves desecrated in Pennsylvania

The report also said that Islamist anti-Semitism continues to be the main and most dangerous threat to Jewish communities, and that it inspired Sarah Halimi's murder in Paris. At the same time, incitement from extremist Islamic states and institutions continued unabated this year and gave religious and normative legitimacy to attacks on Jews. Another rising threat to Jews worldwide is what the report refers to as the "new anti-Semitism"—Anti Jewish sentiment hid under a guise of anti-Zionism or anti-Israeli rhetoric. The report stated that international institutions such as the United Nations and UNESCO continued to present double standards and attempts to diminish the connection of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, the Temple Mount, Jerusalem and the Tomb of the Patriarchs. It further claimed that there is ongoing anti-Semitic incitement by the Palestinian Authority: Systematic use of religious and other anti-Semitic narratives to foster hatred of Israelis and Jews among its citizens. As an example, it mentions the controversial speech of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who said during a meeting of the PLO's Central Council in Ramallah that "Israel is a colonial project that has nothing to do with the Jews."

Minister Bennett. 'Anti-Semitism is the dangerous fuel that has forever inflamed our enemies' (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

Meanwhile, a comprehensive survey conducted by the World Zionist Organization ahead of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day revealed that 83 percent of those surveyed reported that they were exposed to anti-Semitism on the Internet and on social media, 59 percent believe that the politicians in their country are anti-Semitic to a certain extent and 51 percent of respondents said they were afraid to wear Jewish symbols in public. Jacob Haguel, deputy chairman of the World Zionist Organization, commented that the "worrying results of the survey prove once again that anti-Semitism does not disappear from the world, and that all necessary measures must be taken into consideration (in battling it). The writing is, and always was, on the wall—Diaspora Jews suffer from manifestations of anti-Semitism, many of them are afraid to demonstrate their Jewishness, believe that the politicians in their country are anti-Semitic and do not report incidents of anti-Semitism that have become routine." Minister of Diaspora Affairs Naftali Bennett said in response to the data, "Anti-Semitism is the dangerous fuel that has forever inflamed our enemies. "We must make sure that every Jew anywhere in the world can live his life safely and proudly. We must act in every way we can to combat modern anti-Semitism in order to ensure the security of the Jewish people, in Israel and in the Diaspora."

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London's Jewish community calls for coroner's dismissal for offensive policies

The Jewish community in London is in turmoil, following a decision by a local coroner not to approve the expeditious burial of Jews.

According to British law, the burial of every dead body is bound by a coroner's approval, which states that there is no suspicion of foul play. In areas where there is a large Jewish community, the coroner tends to give priority to the bodies of Jews, in order to allow their burial to take place as quickly as possible, according to Jewish law.

Mary Hassell, north London's new senior coroner, recently decided not to approve the prioritization of deceased Jews, meaning that their bodies may have to spend days in refrigeration.

Jewish grave (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

"No death will be prioritized in any way over any other because of the religion of the deceased or family," Hassell said in a statement, suggesting that members of her staff have been "bullied or intimidated" by Jewish community representatives over the matter. "I have received complaints in a similar vein from my other officers and from the mortuary manager … My team has the right not to be bullied or intimidated at work," she wrote. The heads of north London's Jewish community called Saturday for Hassell's dismissal, stating that "many of her imposed rules, bureaucracy, inflexibility and unnecessary delays offend traditional and/or religious practices." They also denied her notion that members of the Jewish community bullied her staff, but family members who lost loved ones do have to call her offices several times on an occasion in which they may have been stressed or even desperate due to her policies, which may have caused them to become frustrated. Their call for Hassell's removal came after a meeting they had with her, which they described as "very disappointing." They claimed she showed "very little interest in the concerns of the Jewish community about the delays in burial." The coroner refused to comment on the affair as responding to requests from the media "contradicts the legal definition of her role," Hassell's office said.

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